Allianz SE said it would launch a share buyback worth up to 3 billion euro, as Europe's largest insurance group posted a 23 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profits.

Shares in UK aerospace and defence company Cobham Plc dropped almost 20 per cent after it issued its fifth profit warning in just over a year and said earnings could fall further next year.

Bruce Carnegie-Brown is set to be named as the new chairman of Lloyd's, the London insurance market. The 58-year-old will replace John Nelson, who has held the post since 2011 and is due to step down later this year.

Stock in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd fell as much as 1.6 per cent at the open on Friday after the early-morning arrest of Lee Jae-yong, heir apparent of Samsung Group. (Compiled by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)